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Why Nuclear Veterans are Being Silenced - Paul Langley's Nuclear History Blog, January 4 2012
Many journalists have been puzzled in recent years why the efforts of the Atomic Veterans' Claimants Group (AVCG), led by Rosenblatt Solicitors of London, have been so fiercely contested by the Ministry of Defence at vast, and seemingly bottomless expense, to the tax payer .
In the last decade, and still continued today, officials at the MoD have been paid in excess of £40 million per annum in bonus payments as " reward for good performance". ( Report in the Daily Mail , by Ian Drury Defence Correspondent, 3rd January and others earlier). Payments, in annual bonuses, to MoD officials in the last decade is now reported to be in excess of £400 million.
The media , like many of the general public with an interest in this subject , are particularly bemused because, for example, the United States, France, China and Russia have recognised the fact that their loyal servicemen who attended nuclear weapons test locations were genetically damaged by gamma radiation and ingested and inhaled fall out from nuclear weapons test experiments . These countries have compensated their veterans.
The question remains: "Why are the Ministry of Defence so hostile towards reaching a mediated settlement of nuclear test veterans and widows claims?"
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Nuclear Veterans Hope For A New Year Legal Win - The Shields Gazette, January 2 2012
Nuclear test veterans on South Tyneside could hear within weeks if they have won the latest round in their battle for compensation. Men who claim they have suffered numerous medical problems as a result of being exposed to damaging radiation during allied atom bomb tests in the 1950s have spent years fighting for justice.
The result of the latest stage in their long legal fight is expected later this month. South Tyneside A-bomb test veterans John Taylor, Bede McGurk and Bob Redman are also involved in the legal wrangle. A Supreme Court appeal hearing in London was adjourned in November, after judges had earlier found in favour of the Ministry of Defence (MoD), which has rejected the veterans' claims.
Mr Taylor, 74, of Carnegie Close, Biddick Hall, South Shields, said: "Really, it is just a waiting game now. "The lawyers acting for the veterans said we should get a result in January, after the Supreme Court hearing. "Let's just hope the result is a good one, and we can go on to claim compensation and at last get some justice."
Mr Taylor, a member of the British Nuclear Veterans' Association, was an RAF aircraftman in Maralinga, Australia, when he witnessed three nuclear tests in 1957 – while wearing only a shirt and shorts, and without any anti-radiation gear. He later developed rashes all over his body, and believes he may have passed other health issues on to his family. Veterans claim the tests triggered medical problems ranging from infertility to cancer.
Mr Taylor added: "I have been in touch with another veteran from the Cheltenham area who witnessed the same Antler tests as myself in Maralinga. "He was billeted about a mile away from me, in Maralinga village, and he's sending me some photographs of the area at the time. "It will be interesting to find out if he suffered any medical problems as a result of the tests."
Mr Taylor and fellow veterans are angry that compensation has already been paid to other nuclear test veterans in Australia, Russia and the Isle Of Man.
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Norfolk's Legacy Of Love For The Children Of Nuclear Test Island - EDP24, December 13 2011
Hundreds of Britain's nuclear test veterans blame the experiments for decades of subsequent illness, pain and cancer among themselves and their families. But with the angst of unanswered questions also came an enduring friendship with the inhabitants of the tiny Pacific island rocked by the first H-bomb explosions in the late 1950s.
Now, as a second generation steps forward to continue the legacy, Norfolk widow Barbara Penney has been inundated with donations for a toy collection guaranteed to bring smiles this festive season.
When her husband, David – who was based on the island – died suddenly following a heart attack last August, Mrs Penney and their daughters knew he would want any money collected at his funeral to benefit children living on Christmas Island. The 76-year-old, a founder member of the East Anglian branch of the British Nuclear Test Veterans Association (BNTVA), suffered deteriorating health for many years after serving as a radio engineer with the RAF during the atomic tests.
"Planes would fly through the clouds after the explosions, which were, of course highly radioactive. It was David's job to test the radios on those planes," said Mrs Penney, of Narborough, near Swaffham. "He saw Britain's first H-bomb explode on the island and others as well. They covered their eyes as it went off and could actually see the bones inside their hands illuminated like an x-ray by the power of the flash. "David had a lot of health problems towards the end of his life, but nothing was ever proven as to whether it was a result of being on the island. The experience always stayed with him."
The East Anglian branch of the BNTVA, the largest in the UK, formed around 10 years ago and takes an active interest in life on Christmas Island today. Many of its members have serious medical conditions including diabetes and cancer and are still battling through the courts for compensation nearly 60 years after the nuclear weapons tests began.
Mr Penney's daughter, Kathryn Crofts, said: "We have quite a few second generation members now who are keen to carry it on. So many of the veterans have died prematurely and the problems they have experienced could have been passed on to their children or beyond. "They are hoping for the government to hold its hands up and say 'ok, we did this; we did this to you.' They want to be recognised. "Dad probably would not have gone for compensation, but he was always concerned about the effects it had on people and their families. That's why he thought of the children."
Donations from Mr Penney's funeral, coupled with money collected at a Lincolnshire school, totalled £4,000 and Mrs Penney decided to deliver it to the children herself. She was joined by her eldest daughter, Ann Clark, son-in-law Graham and veterans John Conning, from Narborough, and John Munton, from Bradford, on the long journey at the end of June.
"Life there is very difficult," the former teacher said. "There is only one flight a week and there is no shop, no television and no optician. Some of the schools were so poor." Mrs Crofts and her children, Holly, nine, and Fern, seven, posted supplies to be distributed to the children during the visit, including a selection of toys and art equipment. "They asked us if we had any dolls and we hadn't," Mrs Penney said. "I showed a film of our trip at the next veterans meeting mentioning they needed dolls – and this is the result! "We have more than 200 dolls and some teddies to send and I was also given donations to help cover the postage costs."
The boxes of dolls will take around five weeks to arrive and Mrs Penney also plans to send some boys toys next year.
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Member's Debate: Nuclear Test Veterans - BBC Democracy Live, November 24 2011
SNP MSP Christina McKelvie told MSPs that society owes a debt to nuclear test veterans, during her member's debate on 24 November2011. More than 20,000 servicemen were involved when the United Kingdom carried out nuclear weapons tests in the Pacific Ocean and at Maralinga, Australia, between 1952 and 1967.
Over 1,000 veterans claim exposure to radiation has led to ill-health, such as cancer and are fighting for compensation.
Ms McKelvie said "they were young conscripts carrying out national service who were exposed to radiation" and the only protection they were given was being told to "hide your eyes or turn away when the A-bombs went off." The member for Central Scotland claimed the radiation led to a list of illnesses including, skin cancer, bowel cancer, infertility, miscarriages, birth defects and eye problems.
She also detailed how the United States had passed a law which "recognised the sacrifice made in the name of global security and peace" and France and Canada too have paid compensation without litigation. Ms McKelvie called for nuclear test veterans' "unique service and contribution" to be recognised in the UK.
Transport and Housing Minister Keith Brown responded to the debate, saying the veterans had acted with "honour and distinction", "their families should equally be in our minds" and this was an issue that demanded to be resolved.
However, he said the matter was for the UK government and the MOD and he believed it would be inappropriate for the Scottish government to comment on the validity or otherwise of the veterans cases.
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Christmas Island Veterans' Court Struggle Carries On - Paisley Daily Express, November 24 2011
A determined nuclear testing campaigner has written to the Prime Minister in a bid to highlight the plight of 22,000 men who were forced to watch atomic bomb blasts. Thousands of soldiers claim they were used as guinea pigs on Christmas Island, in the Pacific Ocean, half a century ago as Britain and America carried out a series of nuclear tests.
These include Johnstone man Ken McGinley, 72, who went to Christmas Island as a young sapper with the Royal Engineers and remembers – at the age of just 19 – seeing the bones through his skin as he raised his hands to protect his eyes from the dazzling glare of the test blast. Ken has suffered constant health problems, including infertility, since then and, along with more than 1,000 other veterans, has battled against the Ministry of Defence through the courts.
Last year, the Court of Appeal ruled that a group of more than 1,000 veterans' claims against the Ministry of Defence over illnesses including various cancers and infertility were "statute-barred" because they had been made too late.
The MoD claims the veterans can't prove a link between the ill heath they've suffered and their exposure to radiation from the nuclear tests. But leave to appeal the decision at the Supreme Court was granted and this hearing, which involves 18 men and women who represent the whole group, is currently ongoing in London.
Ken's letter to David Cameron states that all they want is "a very basic right – to be heard". He is now waiting for a reply to his letter and hopes it will have an impact. Ken told Mr Cameron: "Thousands of people want a court to consider whether their health, and that of their unborn children, was damaged by attending the detonation of nuclear bombs but your government – the latest in a long line of administrations of every political party to do so – is spending millions of taxpayers' money to deny us this right.
"Your government has enshrined the Military Covenant to honour the sacrifices of all our veterans but we survivors of the nuclear tests are still being denied a fair hearing. "It was 59 years ago that the first of 22,000 men were ordered to stand and watch as nuclear bombs were detonated. In the years that followed, many more bombs were exploded in Australia, America and the South Pacific. "We were told to cover our eyes and turn our backs but had no safety clothing, equipment or advice." The veterans strongly believe their DNA could have been damaged by the radiation, which led to their wives having miscarriages, babies being born with defects and even grandchildren having deformities.
Mr McGinley's letter also states: "Our time is running out but we will go on fighting. We want only to be heard. We served our nation."
A spokeswoman for the Prime Minister's office confirmed that they have received Mr McGinley's letter. She added: "We will respond in due course." View full report here...
Nuke Test Veteran Hopes End Of Compo Fight Is Near - Burton Mail, November 23 2011
Nuclear test veterans face an anxious wait to see whether they can continue their fight for compensation from the Ministry of Defence (MoD) following a Supreme Court hearing. A campaign has been waged for years by ex-servicemen including Archie Ross, of Church Gresley, who say they were treated like 'guinea pigs' during nuclear tests in the 1950s.
Men across the country claim they were made ill or passed on health problems to their families after they were exposed to radiation during British A-bomb tests without being given adequate protection. Last week the veterans' battle for justice returned to the Supreme Court in London, where campaigners faced a fresh legal challenge.
The MoD has always denied liability for the health problems suffered by veterans exposed to radiation during a number of tests, but veterans' barrister James Dingemans QC said the MoD had refuted the claimants' evidence of radiation poisoning because they had only taken notice of gamma radiation when, in fact, more insidious alpha and beta radiation forms had caused long-term problems for thousands of servicemen.
If their case is a success, veterans are likely to have their cases heard at the High Court next year. The hearing ended on Thursday but a verdict is not expected until closer to Christmas.
More than 1,000 former servicemen were able to continue their fight earlier this year after it was revealed that three Supreme Court judges in London said that they could appeal against an earlier decision to block attempts to claim damages.
Mr Ross said: "This has been a long time coming and hopefully the Government will follow nations across the world by acknowledging what happened and it is my belief that they will now settle."
The MoD has always acknowledged a 'debt of gratitude' to the veterans but has denied negligence.
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New Year Ruling For A-Bomb Vets - Jarrow And Hebburn Gazette, November 23 2011
Nuclear test veterans in South Tyneside will have to wait until early next year to discover if their fight for justice has been successful. Old soldiers, who say they were treated like 'guinea pigs' during atom bomb tests in the late 1950s, warn some veterans could die while waiting for compensation.
Hundreds of British servicemen – who received little or no protection from the tests – say they later suffered a range of health problems, from cancer to infertility to skin defects, with some veterans claiming they have passed on health issues to their families.
A hearing at the Supreme Court in London has been adjourned, with a spokesman for the Ministry of Defence (MoD) stating: "A panel of seven judges sat last week, but we do not expect a result until the new year."
Nuclear veteran John Taylor said he was "disappointed" with yet another delay in a case which has dragged on for several years. Mr Taylor, 74, of Carnegie Close, Biddick Hall, South Shields, said: "If this case keeps getting put back, I fear other people will die in the meantime. "I'm not really interested in the compensation, but the possible effects on my family."
An RAF aircraftman in Maralinga, Australia, when he witnessed three nuclear tests in 1957, Mr Taylor recalled: "We stood there in just our shirts and shorts, watching three atom bomb tests over the course of six months. "The bombs were ignited between seven and 20 miles away, and there were huge mushroom clouds. "You could feel the heat and the blast on your face, but we had no protective gear whatsoever. "All we were given was a kind of Geiger counter attached to our jackets. "This had a film inside and we were told that if the film changed colour, you were supposed to be contaminated, but we never heard any more after our jackets were taken away.
"When I got back to Britain, I developed rashes over my body – which my doctor couldn't explain – and I link other health issues I've had to the tests I witnessed when I was in Maralinga." Mr Taylor is annoyed that compensation has already been paid to other nuclear test veterans in Australia, Russia and the Isle of Man.
Nuclear test veterans Bede McGurk, from Jarrow, and Bob Redman, from Hebburn, are also fighting for justice.
A spokesman for the MoD said: "The decision by the Supreme Court in July means it agreed to hear an appeal of the judgement handed down by the Court of Appeal, which found in favour of the Ministry of Defence in nine of the 10 lead cases.
"The judgement has not been overturned. "In granting the appeal hearing, the Supreme Court judge said he did not want to give veterans any 'false optimism'. "In arriving at its judgement last year, the Court of Appeal also considered, to some extent, the merit of the claims in terms of causation and concluded that the general merits of the claims were extremely weak.
"We recognise the invaluable contribution of all service personnel who took part in the nuclear testing programme. We are grateful to them for the part they played in ensuring UK security."
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Nuclear Test Veterans Hope To Sue MoD - The Oxford Times, November 18 2011
Christmas Island veteran Rae Johnson is hoping he and 1,000 other ex-servicemen might finally get a chance to sue the Government for compensation. The 74-year-old, from Beeching Way, Littleworth, believes he suffered breathing difficulties and Bowen's disease, a growth of cancerous cells that is confined to the outer layer of the skin, after being exposed to radiation during nuclear weapons tests in the 1950s and '60s.
The veterans have been at the Supreme Court trying to get clearance to sue the Ministry of Defence for compensation in the latest round of a decades-long dispute.
Mr Johnson said: "It makes me feel angry for the simple fact that successive governments have completely ignored it." The MoD has said it is "grateful" to the ex-servicemen, but says their claims are "extremely weak". Mr Johnson, who joined the Army when he was 16, was posted to Christmas Island in the Indian Ocean twice – between 1956-57 and 1962-63. He worked as an electrician and recalls vividly what would happen each time a nuclear test took place.
He said: "We stood with our backs to where the blast was going to be and we were told to put our hands over our eyes. We could see the bones in our hands. "We then turned around to look at the mushroom cloud. "We were told nothing about the dangers and we weren't given any protective clothing."
Ten years ago Mr Johnson began experiencing health problems. His grandson Anthony, whose mother Lynne was born after Mr Johnson returned from Christmas Island, was diagnosed with cancer aged four. Mr Johnson said: "They didn't know what they were doing. We were guinea pigs. Every veteran will tell you the same story."
The case of the ex-servicemen hoping to take action against the MoD, of whom Mr Johnson is one, is currently being heard by the Supreme Court. They are trying to get permission to take the MoD to court because in 2010 the Court of Appeal ruled the claims had been made too late. But in July, they were given permission to go to the Supreme Court this week. They are now waiting on a decision.
A spokesman for the MOD said: "We recognise the invaluable contribution of all service personnel who took part in the nuclear testing programme.
"In arriving at its judgment last year, the Court of Appeal also considered to some extent the merit of the claims in terms of causation and concluded that the general merits of the claims were extremely weak."
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RAF Veteran Says Government Covered Up Scale Of Nuclear Tests - The Independent, November 14 2011
Ex-airman's evidence could prove crucial in court case against Ministry of Defence
A former RAF navigator has claimed the size of a nuclear bomb detonated during tests in the 1950s could have been three times bigger than the Government officially stated, in evidence which could that prove crucial for more than 1,000 service veterans suing the Ministry of Defence (MoD) for upwards of £100m.
Flight Lieutenant Joseph Pasquini, who served in the RAF's 76 Squadron, took measurements during the UK's biggest nuclear test blast at Christmas Island in the Pacific on 28 April, 1958 – known as Grapple Y.
Mr Pasquini, who was recording measurements in a Canberra bomber 46,000 ft above the blast, claims he was told the size of the bomb was "in the 10 megaton range", more than three times bigger than the 3.2 megatons the MoD has officially stated – and nearly a hundred times bigger than the atomic bomb dropped by the US on Hiroshima in 1945.
Breaking a 50-year silence because of his anger at the way the veterans have been treated, he added that official records showing how much radiation aircrews were exposed to had been altered and film badges, used to measure radiation, were inaccurate.
Solicitors fighting the MoD on behalf of veterans – who claim that during the 1950s and 1960s they were exposed to unsafe levels of radiation in tests in the Pacific and Australia, leading to cancers and other medical problems – said his evidence could be "significant".
Today, after more than two years of legal wrangling, a four-day hearing begins at the Supreme Court in which nine test cases out of a total 1,011 claimants could win the right to sue the MoD.
The MoD's defence, that the claimants could not sue after three years of discovering their injuries (under the terms of the Limitation Act), was upheld by the Appeal Court last year, but in July the Supreme Court allowed the claimants to appeal this decision.
Regardless of the outcome, the separate claims of the remaining 1,002 claimants are due to go through the High Court next year.
Now aged 78 and living in the US, Mr Pasquini, who is not a claimant, said it was "a miracle" he was still alive after battling cancer for 12 years. He said as his plane flew through the hydrogen cloud after the detonation, his job was to gain samples for scientists.
"I was told that the bomb was in the 10-megaton range by people from the Atomic Weapons Results Establishment (AWRE)," he said. "Radioactive rain fell when Grapple Yankee was detonated. I flew through it and my radiation recording instruments immediately lit up like a Christmas tree."
He claimed that the levels of exposure to radiation for aircrew were "massively understated". "Official readings recorded in the AWRE records were far lower than my logs," Mr Pasquini said. "My readings were... recorded and logged at the time and on the day of the detonation. But they are much higher than the official logs. I have those logs and I am happy to go public with them."
He added: "I made several Freedom of Information requests and looked at the readings officially given and they were utterly false. My records for the MoD and AWRE are inaccurate.
"I didn't say anything for 50 years because I was sworn to secrecy by the Official Secrets Act, and not even my wife knew what I knew. But people need to know the truth about what happened."
Mr Pasquini said that film badges given to aircrews to measure radiation were unreliable. "The film badge only recorded two dimensions," he said. "So if you have one pinned to your chest, it would only pick up radiation in front of you and behind you. But it would not record radiation emanating from above, below or from each two sides."
A spokesman for Rosenblatt solicitors, which is representing veterans from the UK, New Zealand and Fiji since taking up the case six years ago, said: "This is potentially very significant information for the progress of the case."
An MoD spokesman said: "We cannot comment on the details of ongoing individual cases but we recognise the invaluable contribution of all Service personnel who took part in the nuclear testing programme. We are grateful to them for the part they played in ensuring UK security."
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Atom Bomb Veterans Set For New Fight - Jarrow And Hebburn Gazette, November 13 2011
A court battle for justice starts tomorrow for atom bomb test veterans in South Tyneside. The Supreme Court in London will decide if men who say their health was affected by nuclear tests in the 1950s can claim for damages. There are claims the men were treated like "guinea pigs" and later suffered a range of health problems, from cancer to skin defects and infertility. It is also claimed some of the veterans have passed on health problems to their families.
But the Ministry of Defence (MoD) is challenging the veterans' claims and their right to compensation. Although acknowledging what it calls a "debt of gratitude" to more than 1,000 A-bomb test veterans across the UK, the MoD denies negligence.
Test veteran John Taylor, of Carnegie Close, Biddick Hall, South Shields, remains "hopeful" that the court will rule in their favour. Mr Taylor, 74, a RAF leading aircraftman in Maralinga, Australia, when he witnessed a nuclear test in 1957, said: "We don't know which way the Supreme Court will go on this, and there is always the risk they will reject our case. "But if it goes well, we could get the green light to pursue compensation. "The case is due to start on Monday and last about four days."
Many veterans received little or no protection when they watched British nuclear tests in the Pacific and elsewhere. In July, three Supreme Court justices in London said veterans could appeal against an earlier decision to block damages claims.
Mr Taylor added: "We just hope our appeal goes through and we can take this case a stage further. "But we have also been told that it could be Christmas or the new year before we have a judgement from the Supreme Court."
Nuclear test veterans Bede McGurk, from Jarrow, and Hebburn man Bob Redman are also pursuing justice.
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1,000 Nuke Test Vets Write To The PM Asking Him To End Their Fight For Justice - Mirror, November 13 2011
A thousand nuclear test veterans have written to the Prime Minister demanding his support in their legal battle to have their case heard in court. In a powerful plea they ask David Cameron to back their fight for a trial to finally decide whether they were poisoned by radiation while witnessing atomic blasts in the 1950s and left with a legacy of disease and birth defects in their children and grandkids.
A letter from the Atomic Veterans' Claimant Group will be delivered tomorrow as nine veterans and widows go to the Supreme Court in a new bid to win a test-case hearing against the Ministry of Defence. They want the PM to end years of legal wrangling which have seen the MoD overturn a High Court ruling to have a trial. They tell the PM: "We call on you to right this wrong and let us have our say before we die and are silenced forever."
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Finally They Can Heal Together - Adelaide Now, November 12 2011
They are snapshots from a secret time. An insight into a life in one of the harshest and most secure places in Australia.
The men who took these photographs at Maralinga during the series of British nuclear testing and clean-up from 1952 to 1967 carry them proudly. Most also carry another legacy of this land and the controversial atomic testing that went on here.
Cancers and other conditions linked to the radiation, plutonium, burilium-laced lands that were left after the testing has claimed the lives of many of the men who were at Maralinga.
In 1985, a survey found that of the 12,500 people involved in the British nuclear testing program in Australia, 11,000 had died. Hundreds of Maralinga-Tjarutja people were also forced from their homeland during the testing.
Few of the veterans remain today but the handful who have gone back to Maralinga for the Remembrance Day reunion have done so with the blessing of the traditional owners, so the two groups of people for whom Section 400 is so significant can heal together.
Australian Nuclear Veterans Association founder Avon Hudson, the Maralinga whistleblower and advocate for compensation claims for the men, said there were only about 50 members of that association left.
"We're nearly buggered ... most of our members are old buggers like me and we are dropping off the perch," Mr Hudson, 74, said. "We can get a bit of healing coming back here. It brings back a lot of sad memories because almost all my mates are dead but it is mixed feelings because I have a lot of good memories, too."
A 50-year-old photograph of Mr Hudson, dressed in shorts and a singlet to cope with the horrendously hot conditions of the desert site, was snapped at one of Maralinga's most contaminated scenes. "We were sent on to that Taranaki ground zero site to test some stuff ... nobody knew it was contaminated," he said.
Rob Hornsby, 72, a Navy medic who found himself a long way from the sea for his first posting to the Maralinga Hospital in 1963, has more fond memories of the place. "We had movies every night, the beer was cheap and the food was out of this world," he said. "You could have ice cream three meals a day if you wanted, prawns twice a day and crayfish once a week. We lived like kings."
Former RAAF mechanic Kevin McDonald, 79, was among the first military men to set foot in Maralinga. In 1953, after the first bomb tests had been conducted, the 34 Communication Squadron member was on a search and rescue mission for a helicopter that was forced to land among the mulga-covered dunes around Maralinga. The Bristol Freighter he was aboard was the second plane to land on a runway carved into the land by Outback explorer Len Beadell. "There was nothing here then but a few tents," Mr McDonald said. The airman flew out of Woomera and Mallala and was a regular visitor to Emu Field - the site of the first atomic tests in South Australia. A couple of weeks after the first test at Emu Field, Mr McDonald's crew flew over the blast zone of that test. "It was a massive area and the pattern of it was spectacular," he said. "We don't need atomic situations in Australia."
Tom Murray was a Commonwealth Police officer and long-range inspector for the Maralinga site. His trips would take him throughout the range for weeks at a time where he would conduct a bushman's census of the Maralinga-Tjarutja tribal people the British had either missed when they "cleared" these lands or simply couldn't move from their home country. Mr Murray provided key evidence in the 1985 Royal Commission into events at Maralinga and died in 1987. His granddaughter Alison MacGillivray, also a police officer, ventured to the village for the Remembrance Day service, as did UK-based Lindsay McGee, the daughter of Operation Brumby leader Frank McGee. Mr McGee - who led a group of men on to the most toxic of lands to clean up at the end of the testing with no knowledge of the dangers they all faced - is battling multiple cancers in an Adelaide hospital. "Dad would have liked to have come," Ms McGee said. "It's our family history. He has told us lots of stories about this place and I wanted to see it for myself. Ms MacGillivray added: "My whole memory of Grandpa was Maralinga and him getting the British Empire medal ... so getting all of the stuff he gathered together and coming here was in his honour and something our family needed to do."
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A-Bomb Veterans In New Legal Row - The Shields Gazette, October 27 2011
ATOMIC bomb test veterans in South Tyneside face another legal hurdle in their long fight for justice. A campaign has been waged for years by ex-servicemen who say they were treated like 'guinea pigs' during nuclear tests in the 1950s. Men across the country claim they were made ill – or passed on health problems to their families – when they were exposed to radiation during British A-bomb tests, without being given adequate protection.
Next month, the veterans' battle for justice returns to the Supreme Court in London, where campaigners could face a fresh legal challenge. A-bomb test veteran John Taylor, of Carnegie Close, Biddick Hall, South Shields, said: "Next month's hearing is just another hurdle in our long fight for justice.
"Each court hearing is crucial, as if we can get through all the legal challenges, it means we can push on towards compensation and justice for all the veterans. "But I feel it's awful the way this has dragged on and how successive British governments have dealt with it. "It almost seems like they are simply waiting for all the lads to die."
In July, three Supreme Court justices in London said the nuclear test veterans could appeal against an earlier decision to block attempts to claim damages. The next hearing, on November 14, could decide if the veterans can launch damages claims.
Mr Taylor, 74, an RAF leading aircraftman in Maralinga, Australia, when he witnessed a nuclear test in 1957, added: "Each hearing is crucial – and could go either way. "I was glad about the ruling in July and I hope the Supreme Court gives us the right to keep pursuing our case. "But there's always the danger the justices could rule against us."
More than 1,000 A-bomb veterans want to claim damages from the Ministry of Defence (MoD) for health problems, ranging from skin defects to cancer and infertility. But while the MoD acknowledges a "debt of gratitude" to the nuclear veterans, it denies negligence.
A-bomb test veterans Bede McGurk, from Jarrow, and Hebburn man Bob Redman, are also among those seeking justice.
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Atomic Bomb Test Veterans Prepare For Court Battle - The News - Portsmouth.Co.Uk, October 7 2011
VETERANS who are fighting for compensation over radiation exposure at nuclear bomb testing sites held a remembrance service at Portsmouth Cathedral yesterday.
Around 50 people gathered in the Anglican cathedral's grounds in Old Portsmouth to remember atomic test veterans from the 1950s and 1960s. The service came a month before Supreme Court judges rule on whether the veterans can sue the Ministry of Defence for negligence. The occasion also saw the British Nuclear Test Veterans Association (BNTVA) hand over its old memorial standard which will go on permanent display in Portsmouth Cathedral. Wreaths were laid on the BNTVA's memorial stone in the cathedral grounds.
Les Gosling, 74, of Fratton, said: 'People from all over the country have come to Portsmouth to remember those in the tests. 'It's nice for us to come together like this but it's a sad occasion too because we are remembering the people who are no longer with us.'
Around 1,000 atomic test veterans are trying to claim compensation for exposure to radiation in the Pacific Ocean and Maralinga in Australia, between 1952 and 1967. Many of the veterans have suffered cancer and other illnesses which they say was caused by the bomb testing.
David Riley, 72, of Milton, served in the Royal Engineers at Christmas Island for 12 months in 1958 when five bomb tests were conducted. He said: 'Many of us have got health problems and a lot of it goes back to the testing we were doing. I've had quite a few operations and now I'm living off just half a kidney.'
Derek Fiddaman, 74, from Horsham, was serving on the Royal Navy destroyer HMS Cossack close to Christmas Island during a bomb test. He said he's had more than 200 operations for skin cancer since problems began in 1975. He added: 'I've made over 1,000 visits to hospital. Can you imagine how much of a strain that has been?'
It emerged this week that the MoD, which denies responsibility for the men's illnesses, has spent £5m on legal fees trying to stop compensation cases going to court. The MoD wants the claims to be struck out under the Limitation Act because they did not sue within three years of injury, or within three years of discovery of injury.
Following years of court hearings and appeals, seven Supreme Court judges will sit next month to consider whether the men and their families can bring legal action against the MoD. The three-and-a-half day hearing starts in London on November 13.
BNTVA vice-chairman Jeff Liddiatt said: 'If we win it'll mean we can start real High Court action, but that will take another two or three years to get to court. It won't be the end. It's just the start of a long, long, road.'
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